p. 12 | Modern Marriages by Daniel H. Kress

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 14, 1907

Modern Marriages

By Daniel H. Kress

D. H. KRESS, M. D.

Of Samson it is recorded, “The child grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times.”

Samson’s heredity was good, both father and mother being devoted worshipers of the true God. So near did his parents live to God, and so desirous were they of bringing up their promised son for him, that an angel was commissioned to impart to the mother directions regarding her own food and drink. He said: “Beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: . . . for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God”—these were the words of this heavenly messenger. Samson, like the rest of mankind, had weaknesses which were constantly asserting themselves, and he needed constant divine grace to subdue them.

“The Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times.” But this was not sufficient to keep him from making shipwreck of what might have been a useful life. For young men to be kept securely, it is necessary for them to have such a constant union with God that his Spirit will move them at all times; otherwise, as in the case of Samson, feelings will arise that will lead them to do that which will mar, if not wholly destroy, their usefulness.

How many promising young men and women who have had godly parents, good environment, etc., have been crippled for life simply because they have not been wholly given up to God, and have consulted and followed their feelings and impressions when they should have consulted and followed God’s Word and the Testimonies of his Spirit, and taken the counsel of their parents and guardians.

Samson’s Weakness and Cause of His Sad Life

“And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman.” This was the beginning of his fall. He became infatuated with this woman, and lost his reason. He did not come up to counsel with his parents. “He came up, and told his father and his mother. . . . Now therefore get her for me to wife.”

When his father and mother tried to reason with him and to persuade him that God would not be glorified by their union, Samson said to his father, “Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.” Love is of God, but that which Samson supposed to be love was not love, but sentimentalism.

What a sad history is now recorded of the future of this man who was moved by the Spirit of the Lord “at times.” “And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. And after a time he returned to take her.” The marriage proved to be an unfortunate one. In a short time there was a separation or divorce, and “Samson’s wife was given to his companion.”

Samson did not profit by this bitter experience. “It came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.” That which Samson termed love, and much of that which is termed love by many good young men to-day, is merely a delusive infatuation that Satan makes use of to cause their destruction. Samson could not be persuaded of this by friends or parents, but he was married to the woman he thought he loved.

By Delilah, Samson was shorn of his seven locks of hair in which were concealed the secret of his strength; and when the Philistines came upon him, “he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house.” Samson was now a weak man, completely at the mercy of his enemies.

Many of the marriages contracted in these last days are prompted by the same spirit which prompted Samson’s marriage. The usefulness of one or both parties is either lessened or ended altogether by the marriage. The disregard of the Word of God and its warnings in this respect on the part of so-called Christian young men and women constitutes this as one of the signs of the last days.

Just before the destruction of the earth by the flood, Satan employed this same means in influencing and infatuating young men and women, and keeping them from giving themselves unreservedly to God and engaging with faithful Noah in warning the world of its coming doom. “The sons of God,” it is said, “saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” God’s glory and the advancement of his work was not the motive that prompted in forming these unions; they were controlled by inclination rather than principle. This has been recorded especially for the benefit of the young men and women who have a connection with the closing message, who should seek first the kingdom of God and give themselves unreservedly to the cause of Christ, and warn the world of its coming doom and Christ’s speedy return. But strange to say, in spite of this, the warning is unheeded, for “as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. . . . For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered

into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

The same infatuation is seen to-day among many of the young who are in training for God’s work, and Satan meets with the same success. They think their case is an exception, that they are doing right, and they can not be persuaded to the contrary. Principle is sacrificed to carry out the promptings of the unrenewed heart. No one should enter the marriage relation unless the work of God can thus be better advanced. When the sacred nature and claims of marriage are understood, marriage is honorable, both parties will be blessed, and the work of God advanced thereby. Such marriages heaven approves.